Harry King

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Henry "Harry" King (1886 – ?) was an English footballer.

King was born in Evesham, Worcestershire and began his career at Evesham Star and Worcester City, before joining Birmingham in 1907. A centre-forward, he played 29 games and scored six goals for the Second Division side in two seasons. However, he could not cement a first team place and left in 1909. Over the next five years, he had spells at non-league Crewe Alexandra and then Northampton Town.

In April 1914 he joined Arsenal, returning to League football. Arsenal had just missed out on promotion on goal average to the First Division, and in 1914-15 King spearheaded their attack, scoring 26 goals in the League and another three in the FA Cup. These included the very first hat trick scored at their new Highbury stadium (against Grimsby Town on November 14, 1914), and two four-goal hauls against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest. King's 29 goals that season were an all-time club record at the time, remaining so until Jimmy Brain broke it in 1925-26. However, Arsenal's defence let them down and they only finished fifth, outside of the promotion places; eventually, they were re-elected back to the First Division when football resumed after the end of World War I.

King had spent the war with the Royal Garrison Artillery in Italy, and also made over 30 appearances in unofficial wartime matches for Arsenal. By the time Arsenal's league campaign resumed in 1919, he was 33 and despite his heroics before the war, Arsenal decided to release him. He had played 39 official first-class matches in all for Arsenal, scoring 29 times. He joined Leicester City (scoring once in eight League appearances) and finished his career at Brentford (16 goals in 33 appearances).

[edit] References

  • Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.) (1995). Arsenal Who's Who. Independent UK Sports. ISBN 1-899429-03-4.
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